Here's a little longer review with pics.
I received my "kit" yesterday but of course had to wait until it got dark to start the review. Got the package in the mail and it was heavy! My first impression was, "What the heck did they send me?" As others have already pointed out Peak sent out one head, one momentary switch, one of each body style, four AAAs, and one AA. I wasn't expecting all of this gear but I think it makes sense to get the reviews for each style since they will all be available soon. I do not have any CR2 cells – yet – so those bodies styles will have to wait - but because the active part of the light is the same I would expect only be subtle differences in the output and some difference in the run time. For the most part body style selection will be a matter of personal preference of form factor and battery type rather than overall performance.
Pictures
The Pacific Suite – Momentary tail cap switch, CR2 no tail cap, CR2 w/tailcap, 1AA, 1AAA with head, 2AAA.
Close up of Head
Close up of the 1AA Tail Assembly
Momentary details.
Review.
I have compared the Pacific in the different AAA and AA body types against a well worn Solitaire with a recent LT-3 upgrade (reflector base was ground down to improve focus), a Fenix L1P, a Mini-Mag 2AA with a TLE-5 upgrade, and a stock Mini-Mag 2AAA.
Solitaire, Pacific 1AAA, Fenix L1P
Mini-mag 2AAA, Pacific 2AAA, Mini-mag 2 AA
1 AAA Pacific to Solitaire
1 AA Pacific to Fenix
2 AAA Pacific to 2 AAA Mini-mag
Beam Shots and comparisons all with fresh batteries.
Top: Fenix Alkaline, Pacific 1AAA Alkaline, Solitaire LT-3 Alkaline
Bottom: Fenix Alkaline, Pacific 1AAA Lithium, Solitaire LT-3 Alkaline
Top: Fenix Alkaline, Pacific 2AAA Alkaline, Solitaire LT-3 Alkaline
Bottom: Fenix Alkaline, Pacific 2AAA Lithium, Solitaire LT-3 Alkaline
Obviously a little auto white balance shift between first two and second two shots but still gives a good relative comparison in terms of tint and brightness between the three.
Top: Fenix Alkaline, Pacific 1AA Alkaline, Solitaire LT-3 Alkaline
Bottom: Mini-Mag 2AA TLE-5 Alkaline, Pacific 2AAA Alkaline, Mini Mag 2AAA stock Alkaline
Obviously some more white balance issues with the camera. Color is much closer to the top image of this last series than the bottom. The center beam is the Peak in all shots - just different battery combinations. I would say that the actual color is very white with maybe a hint of yellow - definitely not the blue or green as rendered by the auto white balance of the camera in some of these shots.
Faint ring artifact seen with exaggerated brightness
I tried some room corner images with alkalines but with my camera only the Fenix showed up very faintly. If I get a chance I will try again and see if I can up the sensitivity of the camera and also try with the 2AAA body and the lithiums with appeared to be identical to the Fenix in the outdoor testing.
White wall beam quality
The beam characteristics are almost identical to the Fenix in terms of angular size of the hot spot and spill and tint. The overall quality was slightly lower than the Fenix. My unit had a slightly asymmetrical hot spot, slight artifacts in the spill, and the thin light ring about 10 degs outside of the spill – may be due to the brass housing. There is also a slight yellowish tint to my eyes. In my opinion, these are very slight differences that can only be seen under side-by-side white wall comparisons. None of these differences were noticeable in the practical comparisons.
Practical beam quality.
The beam of the 2 AAA body with 1.6V lithium batteries was identical to the Fenix L1P in my subjective outdoor at night testing in terms of throw, hot spot size, spill, and color. Using the 1 AAA or 1AA body dropped the brightness slightly and reduced the throw relative to the Fenix – as a rough guide I was able to make out detail in the woods at 70' with the Fenix and 60' with the one cell Pacific bodies. Again with the two lithiums there was no difference. One interesting note was that I found the hot spot with the 1AAA body to be almost clearer at a 10' range compared to the Fenix – a reasonable walking at night range. The Fenix hot spot is almost too bright for close distances – a bit of a night vision killer. Of course the best solution would be to have a two stage light – hint hint.
The practical light output of the single cell Pacific was similar to the modded 2AA Mini-mag but the beam quality of the Pacific is better.
The modded Solitaire is much better than a stock Solitaire but there is no comparison to the 1 AAA Pacifc. The modded Solitaire showed about the same level of detail in the woods at about 20' relative to the 60' of the 1 AAA Pacific.
The stock 2AAA mini-mag had close to the same throw in a very tight focus with no spill but the useful light is much better with the Pacific. This advantage would be even more pronounced over even a short time considering the drop off characteristics of the stock mini-mag.
Run times
No time for testing yet and will be out of town so I will have to update this next week – if no-one gets to it before me.
Size
The diameter of the head of the Pacific a little smaller than the mini-mag 2AA, identical to the Fenix, slightly larger than the mini-mag 2AAA, and a lot larger than the Solitaire. Length of the 1AAA with the key ring attachment is slightly longer than the Fenix and about half an inch longer than the Solitaire. AA body is slightly larger than the AAA body. 2AAA body is about half an inch longer than the 2AAA mini-mag.
Weight with out batteries
Solitatire ~ .5 oz.
2 AAA Mag ~ 1.0
Fenix ~ 1.5 oz
Pacific 1 AAA ~ 2.5 oz
Pacific 2 AAA ~ 4.0
Pacific 1 AA ~ 4.5oz
Pacific CR2 no tail options w/o battery ~ 2.5
Pacific CR2 w tail options w/o battery ~ 3.5
Aluminum should be about 66% less if the density numbers that I found on-line were correct.
There is a large amount of un-machined metal in the wider bodies by the tail cap threads, which adds a fair amount of weight to these models
Quality
The workmanship is very nice. Threads are smooth. Knurling is well defined but not sharp – this is a good thing. The only quality issue that I found was a slightly sharp tip on the end of one of the key ring caps. It looked as if it had not been fully turned and just a very small bit of metal remained. It was not sharp enough to be dangerous but it could snag material going in and out of a pocket. All the other tail cap tips were smooth.
Switch
The basic switch is a twisty. The light can easily be turned on and off with one hand. As mentioned in the quality section the threads are very smooth but the o-ring combination felt a little on the loose side to me. When turning the light off it felt like the cap could continue to unscrew itself or turn back on if carried in a pocket but I haven't had the light long enough to test this yet. I'm sure this is a very difficult balance and a very subjective area but it just feels like there is not enough resistance in the o-ring to keep from unscrewing inadvertently.
On a personal note, I don't care for twistys that much – especially this type of twisty. I much prefer the Mag style, which turns the light off when screwed in. The screw in off twistys reduce the size of the light, ensure a good seal before storing and can be "locked" in the off position with a little torque. And most importantly it's easy to determine if the light is off position with a quick feel. Maybe I'm just a fidgety person, but I often reach into my pocket to give my Solitaire a quick twist check and I can tell immediately if it's in the off position without retrieving it. There is no way to test the state of the Pacific without inspection.
Momentary option. To change the switch, you need to remove the tail cap, remove the negative contact plug – with a small screwdriver, screw in the momentary, and tighten with some pliers. The quality of the momentary switch that I received was not as nice as the rest of the light. There is a rough almost scraping sensation when pressing the switch with any amount of side pressure as if the plunger or barrel was not thoroughly machined or finished. Once installed the light can be turned on with the twist or used momentarily with the switch – as long as the head is screwed on the right amount. When I first tried the switch I put it on hand tight only and the light flickered when using it and would not turn on with the twist switch. To be used effectively it should be put on with tools. The momentary protrudes beyond the end of the light so it makes it susceptible to inadvertent use if carried in a pocket – although the spring should make if difficult to stay on, it could happen if someone was sitting in just the right way.
And the money question - Will I use it?
I've carried a Solitaire on my key ring for close to twenty years. I like the form factor of AAA light. When the "Ocean" was announced I was looking for a Solitaire replacement but even though the beam quality is much better, the size and weight of the 1 AAA brass version will probably keep it out of my pocket. I had the same hope for the Fenix but feel that it is too large as well. The Pacific is closer to the size of the Fenix than the Solitaire. To be fair I'll give it a try for a while and report back but it is larger and heavier than I hoped. The aluminum version might be a better pocket choice. One the plus side, I do like size and feel of the 2 AAA version and will probably end up using that body more. It won't be my pocket light but it will likely replace my modded Mini-Mag and possible the Fenix. I like the feel and balance of the two battery bodies for non-pocket lights.
Suggestions
Reverse twisty – or some other way to ensure light is off when it is in your pocket – for example some type of mechanical stop or tactile detent.
I like the idea of changeable tail caps that add functionality but they should have the following characteristics. Changeable without tools. Changing the options should not interfere with being able to put the light on a key ring or standing it on the tail. It may be a good idea to have a secondary key ring attach point on the side of the tail cap or body.
Because the momentary requires tools it's not really field replaceable and it eliminates the key ring option. The decision of how to use the light has to be made well in advance of the change over which does not take full advantage of the interchangeability. It would be nice if it could be changed without tools and if there was a way to store the interchangeable parts with the light when not in use. The negative terminal is very small and easily misplaced. Providing a screw in storage receptacle for the changeable options that could attach to a key ring would be a nice feature to allow the owner to keep these small parts with the light or even just better organized wherever they end up being stored. And speaking of changeable options, a full clickie would be a nice step up from the momentary, a two stage clickie would be better, and even some electronic flash or dim options might be nice in the future. If Peak can standardize on this tail cap design across multiple products it could encourage some more 3rd party options to fill these enhancement areas as well.
If these were production units, check the QC of the finishe on the tip of the key ring caps.
There may be an opportunity to remove a little more material in the tail of the 1AA and key ring CR versions to reduce some weight
For the group
If there are any questions or additional inspections or comparisons someone would like me to run just ask. I'm going to be on vacation for a couple days but I'll bring this gear with me and may be able to log in and answer some questions.
MJ thank you very much for the opportunity to participate in this test and for sending the full suite – that was a nice surprise. This is a very versatile platform and should satisfy a lot of potential customers. The beam is very nice and if the runtimes test out as advertised this is an impressive engineering feat.
One question, now that a few of us have some extra bodies any chance of purchasing some heads separately?